A picture book can be a gift to parents struggling to get into the required Christmas spirit. And even for those who need no festive jollying along, the right book, shared with children, can be a wonderful pick-me-up – extra icing on the Christmas cake. Richard Collingridge's When it Snows (David Fickling £10.99) is unabashedly escapist. He sees snow as an invitation to imagine. This is a romantic walkabout of a book, a dream that takes us with it. A little boy, in bobble hat and wellington boots, sets out across snowy wastes, rides a polar bear, meets a crowd of snowmen and even has a convincing brush with fairies. The ending, in which he sits reading in front of a roaring fire, is a boosting vote of confidence in the power of fantasy: "And I can go there every day… because my favourite book takes me there." (3+)

Anyone who likes a Christmas with bling in quantity will enjoy Snow Bunny's Christmas Wish (Nosy Crow £12.99) by Rebecca Harry. You will strike silver here: the ice shimmers, the puddles are glitzy mirrors, the stars twinkle. And the story is short and sweet. Snow Bunny's letter to Father Christmas asks for a "friend" as a present. But on her way to deliver her message to Santa, she makes friends through her open, generous attitude (handing out delicious homemade biscuits helps) and new friends materialise almost by mistake. A cheery, comforting, sparkling winter's tale. (3+)

But Christmas is also open season for bad behaviour and Observer cartoonist Chris Riddell is ready with Alienography 2: Tips for Tiny Tyrants (Macmillan £14.99). It is a wildly inventive book as likely to detain and entertain frantic parents as diminutive despots. My favourite tyrant (we are spoilt for choice) is Kevin, a pasty-faced little beast on a bulbous red throne with arms that inflict torture (Riddell comes up trumps with interactive tabs to pull). I was also impressed by Planet Janet, a ball of "raging emotional storms". Required reading for toddlers on their way to being teenagers and all their minders.

But if what you are pining for is non-Christmassy stylishness, Jon Klassen's This Is Not My Hat (Walker £11.99) might be the smart choice. The hat in question, a pistachio-coloured bowler, appears on the head of a small fish – nicked from a bigger fish who was asleep at the time. The colossal, bloated victim is magnificently drawn. The juvenile delinquent (he needs counselling from Chris Riddell) believes he can swim away with it but several beautifully drawn and wordless pages later – dominated by a crab informer with eyes on stalks – he is forced to hang up, and return, the stolen hat. (2+)

Happily, there is a hero around this Christmas to keep all the villains company. Superworm (Scholastic £10.99) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is a comic, larger-than-life S-bend of a worm with eyes like hard boiled eggs. He wriggles to everyone's rescue until, one fateful day, a crow descends (drawn with marvellous menace) and he ends up as a slave to a lizard magician. "Superworm is very cross/To have a lizard as his boss." But Superworm would not be super were he not able to give his new taskmaster the slip. The energetic rhyme will keep the audience squirming with pleasure as the Superworm turns. (3+)

The very first Moomin story, published in Finland in 1945, has never appeared in the UK – until now. The Moomins and the Great Flood (Sort of Books £9.99) by Tove Jansson, a beautifully published hardback edition with brilliant yellow binding, is a joy. It was written just after the second world war and Jansson was quoted as saying that it was an attempt to escape the harsh realities of that time. The illustrations are captivating – sepia watercolours and adorable line drawings. Observe Moominmamma endeavouring to climb a rope ladder while hanging on to her handbag. The ladder is also said to be problematic because of her "short legs". This unfamiliar classic will charm at Christmas and be an antidote to any hard times ahead – just as when it was first written. (5+).